I’ve taken the stage many times in my life to deliver key
messages on various topics. I’ve been the center of attention
before, mostly because of the skill, talent or even the title I
held.

In many cases I hated the way I looked as I was preparing my
final rehearsal.
Once I got dressed up, I knew I looked the best I could, and that
the audience wouldn’t care because I would be distracting them with
my message. My
appearance didn’t matter, they weren’t there to hear or see me,
they were there to hear my message. My message was always something
besides “ME”.

Today, I embark on a new journey. On Sunday I will address a
subset audience at a conference of 10,000 dietitians. The makeup is industry
professionals all focused on the same thing - keeping people
healthy and using our food supply as the tool. I realized for the first
time, I’m not speaking as an Industry expert, I’m speaking as the
glimmer of hope, and a success story that so many others have just
now begun to write. I speaking on behalf of the hundreds of
thousands who share my pain. My message is suddenly and simply
“ME”.

Slides, graphs and visual aids have no where near the impact
that my physical transformation does. Yet the audience on Sunday,
has no frame of reference. The starting point for my story is long
gone. I worked hard to burry it and make it a distant memory, but I
now need to bring it to life, to deliver my message effectively.
The pain has to be real again. Pain that I set aside and worked
through must now be resurrected. Pain that I have overcome is now
forced to be fresh in my mind. I have to re-live my journey in
front of a room of strangers, with no expectation that they
understand.

It’s a story that has to be told through photos and sound bites.
Even I, at times, forget just how far I’ve come because I’m
incredibly proud of where I am. I live in the now. I worked hard to forget the
past. So as I
prepare for this incredible opportunity, my brain
wonders....

Can I deliver the entire journey in words? Can I make a
compelling argument that I truly am proud of what I’ve
accomplished? Can I channel the energy from this community and give
back? Can I stand on the stage and represent the change that our
nation needs?

The number one retention issue in our military currently
parallels the #1 medical condition our nation and globe faces.
Heart disease, diabetes, and so many other chronic illnesses are
directly related to our poor and often deliberate
actions. The
result is obesity and it’s time we address it. Today, we lose more military
members to the chow hall line, than we do to foreign
conflict. The
numbers are staggering yet often underreported.

In just a few hours, I’ll huddle into my inner mind to channel
these emotions.
Then on Sunday afternoon, whoever is in that room is going to get
it from a fire hose, I’m going to hand them the problem and asked
for their collective experience to work with me to solve it!

I could not be more honored than to be tapped on the shoulder in
this moment. A moment I’ve unknowingly prepared my whole life
for.

If you’re with me, dig deep, write your story, add it to the
list of successful outcomes so my entire journey becomes
validated! The
solutions exist, we know that, we must continue to prove that.
Together we will work with those with the educational background to
channel our victories into replicable actions.

That is why what you’re doing matters. It matters beyond your
life, beyond your family and extends across the globe to all
generations.

About the Podcast

To lose weight, you need to focus. It doesn't happen by accident. At one point I weighed 263.5lbs and I should have been kicked out of the military. I got my mind right and lost 91pounds. It feels great! If you have similar goals, this is the place to learn WHY I did it and get focused on your WHY. There is more than one way to do this!